wayA UK-born startup developing self-learning rather than rule-based systems for autonomous driving has closed $1.05 billion in Series C funding led by SoftBank Group. This is the UK’s largest AI fundraise to date and one of the top 20 AI fundraises globally to date.
was also participating in the lifting NVIDIA and existing investors Microsoft, Wei’s early-stage investors include metaHead of AI, Yann LeCun.
veve, which was Established in Cambridge in 2017, Raised $200 million in Series B round Led by Eclipse Ventures in January last year.
The company plans to use the new capital injection to expand its product to “Eyes On” assisted driving and “Yes Off” fully automated driving, other AI-assisted automotive applications and expand operations globally.
San Francisco is known as a hub for the autonomous driving roll-out, with Alphabet-owned Waymo and GM-owned Cruise both operating services in the city. In contrast, Wave’s “end-to-end” self-driving system began its life around the small streets of Cambridge on an electric Renault Twizy.
Since then, it has been training its models on delivery vehicles for companies like UK grocery delivery company Ocado, which invested $13.6 million in the startup.
Wave’s approach to autonomous driving is similar to Tesla’s, but Wave plans to sell its autonomous driving models to various auto OEMs. Of course, the implication is that Wave will collect a lot more training data to improve its models, because Tesla has to trust someone buying its car brand. However, the company has not announced any such automotive partner yet.
Wave calls its hardware-agnostic mapless product “Embodied AI,” and it plans to distribute its platform not only to car makers but also to robotics companies serving manufacturers of all types, making the platform To allow learning from different types of human behavior. Real world environment. The company’s research on multimodal and generative models, known as LINGO and GAIA, will offer “language-responsive interfaces, personalized driving styles and co-piloting,” the company promises.
Wave co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall told TechCrunch: “Seven years ago, we started the company to build an embodied AI. We are lagging behind in building technology… Everything that happened last year really started to work.’
He said the key moment has been the automotive industry’s “step change” to putting cameras all around new cars, from which Wave can pull data for its autonomous platform: “Now their production vehicles are equipped with GPUs, surround cameras, radar and Coming in. Of course, there’s an appetite now to bring in AI and enable the accelerated journey from assisted to automated driving. So this fundraise is validation of our technology vision, and what we need to do to turn this technology into a product. Provides capital to bring to market.
He said Wave also has big plans for robotics.
“Very soon you will be able to buy a new car, and it will have Wave’s AI… Then it helps enable all kinds of embodied AI, not just cars, but also other forms of robotics. I think the ultimate thing we want to achieve here is to go far beyond where AI is today with language models and chatbots. But to actually enable a future where we can rely on intelligent machines that we can delegate tasks to, and certainly they can make our lives better and self-driving would be the first example of that.
In a move highlighting the importance of this fundraising for Britain more broadly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a statement of support, saying: “From the first electric light bulb or the World Wide Web, to AI and self-driving cars “The UK has a proud record of being at the forefront of some of the greatest technological advances in history.”
“I am incredibly proud that the UK is home to pioneers like Wave, who are developing the next generation of AI models for self-driving cars. The fact that a domestic, British business has secured the largest investment ever in a UK AI company is a testament to our leadership in this industry, and that our plan for the economy is working,” he said.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to create the economic conditions for businesses to grow and thrive in the UK. We already have the third largest number of AI companies and private investment in AI in the world, and this announcement strengthens the UK’s position as an AI superpower,” he said.
Also in a statement, Kentaro Matsui, managing partner of SoftBank Investment Advisors and Wave board member, said: “AI is revolutionizing mobility… The potential of this type of technology is transformative; It can eliminate 99% of traffic accidents. SoftBank Group is pleased to be at the forefront of this effort with Wave, as advanced intelligence redefines mobility and connectivity, contributing to a more convenient and secure society.
wayve-raises-1-billion-to-take-its-tesla-like-technology-for-self-driving-to-many-carmakers-techcrunch
